A 28-year-old carjacking suspect is accused of leading authorities on a rush-hour chase from Longmont to Lone Tree, wrecking several vehicles and leaving Front Range residents focused on their televisions and radios as the drama unfolded.

A state trooper was seriously injured Wednesday morning after the suspect's vehicle struck him while he was putting down spike strips.

Douglas County police arrested Ryan Cole Stone after an hour-long pursuit through the metro area that reached speeds of 100 miles per hour.

Stone is accused of stealing a vehicle with a 4-year-old boy in the back seat and then carjacking two other vehicles while a news helicopter tracked his every move.

"A lot of people have just lived a horrific event," Douglas County Sheriff David Weaver told reporters after the chase.

Stone has an 11-page criminal record that began in 2003 and includes assault, receiving stolen property, weapons possession, flight, child abuse and drug offenses, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

The episode started at a Longmont gas station where Martha Rodriguez left her red Ford Edge running while she bought coffee.

Rodriguez went into the Bradley station at 1750 Main St. in Longmont at about 6:20 a.m., leaving her son, Allan Chavarria-Rodriguez, 4, strapped into a car seat in the sports utility vehicle.

She noticed a man inside the station eating, she later told the Longmont Times-Call.

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When she walked out and saw that her Ford was gone, she knew the man had taken it, she said. She ran back in, told the clerk the vehicle was stolen, and they called police.

"It was bad," she said through a translator.

Dispatch broadcast the plate number of her vehicle, and a trooper spotted the SUV speeding south on Interstate 25.

The SUV left the highway at Thornton Parkway, jumping a curb and getting onto I-76 eastbound, then careening onto the road's shoulders to pass traffic.

Bellamann Hee (Colorado State Patrol)

"Obviously, this person was desperate," said Colorado State Patrol spokesman Trooper Nate Reid.

The driver slowed, bumped a gold van and carjacked the vehicle. Leaving the boy in the Ford, he sped away, heading west in the eastbound lanes of I-76.

Near E-470 and Parker Road, the van collided with another car.

In the course of the chase, the suspect hit Colorado state trooper Bellamann Hee, who was deploying spike strips in the southbound lanes of E-470 near Chambers Road, Reid said.

Hee, an eight-year veteran of the CSP, had surgery and is expected to fully recover, the patrol said.

A short time later the suspect bumped another car, pulled the driver out and sped away in it.

A woman flees after a carjacking suspect entered her vehicle on Wednesday, March 12, 2014. (7News)

Stacy Rader, 39, was on her way to work and listening to a radio broadcast of the chase when the suspect T-boned her 2008 Camry at the intersection of East Lincoln Avenue and South Peoria Street.

"That pushed me further into the intersection into eastbound traffic, and I got hit by two other cars," she said in a telephone interview.

She hit a third car that was making a left turn.

Stone jumped out of the car and ran toward a strip mall, police said. He was arrested and taken to a hospital after he tried and failed to climb a fence. He was treated for a "possible drug overdose," said Longmont Police spokesman Cmdr. Jeff Satur.

Julie Pawlak (7News)

Stone was wanted in multiple jurisdictions, and there were warrants out for his arrest for auto theft and drug violations, according to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.

He was arrested on Feb. 6 on drug charges, and released on $25,000 bond, according to court records.

7News reported that he walked out of a court hearing on March 4 before his case was called. Records show a warrant for his arrest for failure to appear was issued on March 4.

Law enforcement monitored transmissions from the 850 KOA News helicopter as the chase unrolled, said Douglas County Undersheriff Tony Spurlock.

The live feed provided real-time information on the suspect's location, making it available to the officers 35 to 40 seconds sooner than they would have received from dispatchers, Spurlock said.

Longmont police arrested Stone's girlfriend, Julie Pawlak, 20, on Tuesday night, after a homeowner reported that someone had broken into his garage and left a white Ford F-350 in his carport, Satur said.

"We arrested her but didn't find him," Satur said.

The pickup truck was stolen, and police found drug paraphernalia, including empty syringes, five pipes containing residues believed to be of methamphetamine and marijuana as well as 2.1 grams of pot.

Police believe Stone wore a black and yellow jacket during the chase that was stolen from the garage, Satur said.

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